Supplements for Bipolar?

Has anyone heard of the natural idea of taking Bee Pollen for bipolar? A local health food store told me about this, and they *claim* that some people have been able to get off their meds and just take a bunch of Bee Pollen to treat their bipolar.

I would personally never try to get off my meds, but I do take the Bee Pollen as needed to balance my mood (it works especially well when I'm feeling hypomanic). Has anyone else tried this?

Also, has anyone taken any other supplements to help with bipolar symptoms? I know Fish Oil or Flax Oil is supposed to be helpful for bipolar.

Try vitamin D supplements. They have been proven to help with depression. Also, they were personally recommended by my regular doctor and my nutritionist, and my nutritionist said up to 2000 IU of vitamin D is safe.

Here's a good article to read if you're interested in other supplements: Herbs for Bipolar Disorder | Psych Central

My doctor put me on vitamin D (2000 IU) recently because it was ridiculously low and I've heard that is supposed to help. And I've been really crappy lately, so we'll see.

Fish oil. The latest fad is Krill oil. Vitamin D. B12. B complex. Magnesium. C and E.
Bee pollen can't hurt. Some of them cure constipation in a funny way.
Specially the fish oil and the magnesium. You have been warned.

I ordered but haven't received Synapsyl. The only worry is it contains 250 mil of St John Wort.
And it's to be taken twice per day,so that would equal 500 mg. so we will see.

Like everyone else mentioned, I'd try Vitamin D. There is another supplement I am going to try next month called blisphora. I haven't read much about it but according to my husband's aunt it worked very well for her son's chronic depression. I hope I will have a similar experience!

I take mB12, methylfolate, vitamin E and 600 mg acetylcysteine. The last one is very likely to work (results of placebo-controlled studies). All are neuroprotective.

The rationale is in this thread.

None of them treats (only) symptoms, so I think they can eventually (say in 10 years) replace at least my mood stabiliser.

Vitamin D is likely to be low for us (depends on state and weather, of course: depression or mania and doing lots of things outside with lots of sun).

Too much vitamin D is toxic, so use it as required, not longterm.

Edit:
I am getting more and more convinced that my supplements account for 20% or more in stabilising me and keeping delusions under control and stable/consistent, purely based on experience. Nicotine, caffeine, my antipsychotic and mood stabiliser probably account for 80% (I am afraid of lowering the antipsychotic and I can't really lower the mood stabiliser, to make sure).

I would urge everyone to at least give it a try. If your plasma homocysteine levels have never been low, mB12 and methylfolate may not make any difference.

There are probably many different causes for our particular syndrome, but more neuroprotection being very helpful is pretty much a given. Your mood stabiliser and antipsychotic and/or antidepressant or other anxiolytic (I personally don't think they are worth it prophylactically/longterm: they will work very paradoxically, annulling any progress, or worse) do the same and our brains are really more toxic (somewhat localised, but still). Our brain itself, endocrine system and our immune system can all work somewhat against us. The BP syndrome and cardiovascular problems can be pretty much more indirect and direct consequences, respectively.

Does anyone want to take part in a somewhat naturalistic clinical trial for treatment with acetylcysteine, vitamin E, methylcobalamin and methylfolate? It's not gonna be very rigorous, obviously, since it will not be blind, but can still provide valuable data.

We can improve the experimentation by controlling for variables in the treatment and control groups. This could even lead to an experiment that is more rigorous than many (non-blinded) in the scientific literature.

Those in the control group don't have to buy any supplements and those in the treatment group will probably be better off.

Control variables will depend on who is willing. Please take part! I am not joking.

Other supplements may be added or removed, just let me know. We could even work with two different supplement-treatment regimens.

Sorry for asking again, but isn't anyone willing to try any supplements in a somewhat controlled way? It could help to see whether it's just a waste of money or really helpful.

We just need (at least) 1 control and 2 taking supplements. Say we do it for a month. Since I am already taking the supplements I mentioned, I will be a control.

All that is required is keeping track of your mood (which you might already do anyway). You can/should keep taking other/regular meds: variability will be controlled for.

We could also just do acetylcysteine treatment.

Anyone willing?

And you might read "clinical trial" as to imply it might be unsafe. That is absolutely not the case: all these supplements are OTC and have been proven to be much safer than typical meds, also in relatively high doses.

It is just about efficacy for use in BP treatment.

I take B12 and Vitamin D, as well as methyl-folate (prescription) to help my mood swings. The methyl-folate is prescribed by my psychiatrist and is supposed to help the AD.

Interesting. Especially the bit about how it (would) help(s) together with your antidepressant (I take it you mean that). Any idea how?

Do you know your homocysteine serum levels?

Do you take vitamin D as maintenance treatment? How many IU?

Do you think it works: any indications it does? I suppose your antidepressant and the methylfolate were added at the same time?

Have you ever not taken any of those supplements (be it one or two days)? Did you experience any change?

Do you eat healthy enough and go outside enough and/or need the supplements for something else (besides the methylfolate)?

Questions, questions... I am very curious!